Texas probably accounted for a good chunk of the big increase in U.S. construction jobs in January.

The nation added 28,000 construction jobs — nearly one of every five new jobs last month, according to government data released Friday.

My bet isn’t a huge stretch, given thatTexas led the nation in overall and construction job growth in 2012 (though growth slowed at the end of the year), and the forecast is for the state’s construction and housing rebound to strengthen this year.

Others back me up.

“Some of those jobs might be from Texas — how many is very difficult to know,” said Eugenio J. Alemán, a senior economist for Wells Fargo. “The industry is getting better. … Home prices have recovered already in Texas.”

When Texas releases January employment data in two weeks, economists expect to see some improvement, especially in construction.

Robert Dye, chief economist for Dallas-based Comerica Bank, is one of them.

“Construction indicators have been improving here locally,” he said. Increased demand, tight inventory and rising prices are driving the market in North Texas.

Dallas-Fort Worth home starts were nearly 50 percent higher in the fourth quarter than a year earlier, according to data from Residential Strategies. Builders started 4,549 homes, the largest fourth-quarter number in five years.

While most of the recent construction growth has come from the housing industry, new commercial and industrial projects are sprouting.

This week, giant online retailer Amazon confirmed that it will open three distribution centers in Texas, including one in Coppell, for a total of 3.3 million square feet this year.

In December, Texas lost 4,100 construction jobs, but it added 36,800 jobs in all of 2012. The state’s jobless rate dipped to 6.1 percent, compared with the U.S. rate of 7.8 percent in December.